22 THE CHBA REVIEW 



a few miles nearer than Bayamo. This road is being improved, and bridges that 

 will soon permit motor trucks to be used over pari of it are being built. Strenuous 

 efforts are made in Ibis district to gel ore to market. Some of the ore is now carried 

 10 to 2,1 miles in sacks on the backs of mules and in oxcarts, and in the dry season 

 a motor truck carries ore 15 miles from a mine to Bayamo, lording Bayamo River 

 many times and standing bub deep in the water of Guama River to load (be ore 

 lii hi i a wharf. 



.Most of the mining operations in this district are on a small scale and rather 

 simple. The developments on the Manuel, Oviedo and Carbayon claims consist of 

 open cuts in which the ore is broken and band cobbed. At the Oharco Redondo a 

 thin bedded deposit has been stripped of an overburden of argillaceous limestone to 

 a thickness of eight feet and the ore is taken up in lumps and blocks. At the Adriana 

 the ore body lies between beds of limestone that dip about 45° and is mined from 

 underground drifts turned off from a main incline, through which the ore is hoisted 

 by cable. 



No mechanical apparatus for concentrating the ore had been installed in this 

 district at the time it was visited. As stated above, the "cream" of the ore is now 

 being skimmed off, and until better roads are available it is doubtful whether it 

 would be profitable to attempt the mechanical concentration of low-grade ores. Plenty 

 Of water, however, is available, and if the cost of transportation can be reduced suf- 

 ficiently these ores may also be utilized. 



It was estimated in April that the output of manganese ore from this district 

 during 1918 would probably not exceed 12,000 tons, half of which would be high- 

 grade ore carrying between 45 and 55 per cent, of manganese, but developments since 

 then indicate a larger output. 



The reserve of manganese ore in this district is estimated at about 50,000 tons, 

 most of which is in the western part, and this estimate does not include the Los 

 Negros district, which lies farther southeast, 25 to 30 miles from the railroad. The 

 Los Negros district is not now producing ore and it was not visited by the Geological 

 Survey-Bureau of Mines party, but engineers who have examined the district believe 

 that it may yield a large output of high-grade ore from many small deposits. 



CONDITIONS AFFECTING MANGANESE INDUSTRY 



Although the owners and operators of manganese properties in Cuba desire to 

 speed up production while the need for the ore is great and the prices are good 

 there are certain hindrances, aside from climatic conditions, which tend to retard 

 their output. These hindrances can be removed to some extent if not altogether. 

 For instance, it has been difficult to obtain and bold a sufficient number of miners 

 at certain mines because an adequate supply of staple foodstuffs could not be fur- 

 nished to them, so that they left the mines and went to work in sugar mills, where 

 they more easily obtained food to their liking. Mining has also been handicapped 

 by shortage of explosives. 



Difficulties of transportation of ore from mines to railroads have been mentioned, 

 and there seems but little chance for improvement without assistance from the Cuban 

 Federal Government in building and improving cart roads. Haulage by caterpillar 

 tractors may eventually supplant some of the haulage by animals. 



The high cost of animal haulage, of course, prevents the production of ore from 

 many deposits at a distance from railroads. The limitation of this traffic to five or 

 six months of the year handicaps production in still another way, for, though min 

 ing might be carried on during practically the whole year, ore would have to be 

 stacked up for many months awaiting the drying of the roads, and this storage of 

 ore would require the locking up of considerable capital, which few of the smaller 

 opei'ators can afford. 



